Satisfaction Guaranteed

The weekend forced a decision at FotoFink- leave for the annual spring retreat to the remote southern headquarters, or stick around for the Ice Breaker Relays?  After careful consideration, obviously the track meet won out.  After all, the last few have been fun, and this one was somewhat hyped- it seemed to be a case of satisfaction guaranteed.  Happily, there are no regrets about that decision.  The day was full of fun events to shoot, and the atmosphere was electric.

Face it- when you hear "Ice Breaker" relays, thoughts of a cold day immediately leap into your mind.  As it turned out, nothing could be further from the truth.  This may have been the nicest day of the spring so far. Judging from the fans, this could have had a beach party theme and still made sense.  The warm weather/cold name situation must have led to some confusion for this girl- who pulled out parts of both her winter and summer wardrobes.

Is there a better background to put a shot against (wow- kind of a dual meaning there...) than a lake with a thin cover of trees?  Doubtful.  Now if only Tommy-Tape-Measure would get out of the way....

Nicole's style is a little.... unorthodox.  In the high jump, the camera will usually be pointed right at the bar, pre-focused, so all that needs to be done is click the shutter as the jumper clears.  It should be easy, as there is only one place that the jumper is going to be, right?  Julia gives a good example here.  Nicole is not nearly so predictable.  To be fair, the high jump is not really her event.  Thankfully though, she doesn't disappoint in the long jump either.

It turns out that the javelin is more than just a rumor.  Thanks to Fallyn, the jav (which seems to be the cool way to refer to it) was included in the day's photos.  This, by the way, is what the longest women's jav throw of the day looks like.  And here's the reaction.

Getting back to the high jump for a moment- Maria H. seems to have an interesting technique as well.  Apparently, the flex in the bar can be used to propel you over the top.  Who knew.

An announcement was made that there was a "Professional Photographer" covering the event.  Sadly, that was not made on behalf of our staff.  I am anxious to see the kinds of shots that are presented from the pro however.  Here at FotoFink- we got the "2 thumbs-up" rating from the crowd, so that's really enough for us.  We have our own marketing strategy here, although it's not always implemented well.  First- take pictures of the right athletes.  The coach's daughter is a great idea- keep your "centers of influence" happy.  Great strategy, but sadly the best picture of Ashley from the day was a nose wipe on the sideline.  Another great way to showcase photography is to make sure that the bad pictures are deleted.  No picture at all is better than a bad picture.  Once again- this is not always implemented well.  In truth, some of the outtakes are too fun to leave out.  Can you name the headless high jumper in that last shot?

Of course, no recap of the day would be complete without noting the newest event in the PIAA Track and Field handbook- The rocky-bottom, coed, cold water relay.  Here are the boys, pretending that it's not cold, and that their feet don't hurt.  Not to be outdone, here's Maria M pretending to be a pirate.  Not all the action happens on the field.....

Tonight on American Idol.....


Onto the pictures-


857 Ice Breaker photos

The rest of Fotofink

Enjoy!